


Brothers in Arms

by TheAsexualofSpades



Series: Quarantine Drabbles [25]
Category: Pacific Rim (Movies)
Genre: Brotherly Affection, Brotherly Bonding, Brotherly Love, Crying, Don't Worry About It, Fluff, Gen, Ghost Drifting, Men Crying, This Is Fine, i can't believe all of those are tags, it's healthy, listen we need more emotionally comfortable men okay, the drift is not inherently romantic and i will die on this hill
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-18
Updated: 2020-04-18
Packaged: 2021-03-02 02:48:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,678
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23718463
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheAsexualofSpades/pseuds/TheAsexualofSpades
Summary: The Beckett brothers are incredible Jaeger pilots, at home inside the Drift as much as out.What did their first test run look like?It was a hell of a lot of fun, that's what it looked like.Dealing with the aftermath was, uh, interesting.
Relationships: Raleigh Becket & Yancy Becket
Series: Quarantine Drabbles [25]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1677655
Comments: 4
Kudos: 47





	Brothers in Arms

**Author's Note:**

> Listen i need more of these stories of people crying when it's not sad because humans do that okay

Fandom: Pacific Rim

Prompt: “It’s not bad to cry. In fact, I think it makes a person stronger.”

* * *

There isn’t a thing in the world that feels better than stepping into a Jaeger for the first time.

The thrum of the energy through its veins, the solid presence and the sheer _weight_ of the thing against the ground, the awareness that explodes in your head, mirrored and reflected by your copilot until it surges through the both of you.

“You’re grinnin’ like a monkey over there, kid,” Yancy says from his right.

“So’re you.”

“Can you blame me?” The brothers raise their hands and drop into a fighting stance, the Jaeger mirroring their motions to a tee. “This is the shit right here.”

“How’re we doing, Beckett boys?”

“Tendo!” Yancy reaches out to press the comm. “Can’t you read our vitals?”

“Yeah I can, you’s both lookin’ a little higher than normal, what’s going on?”

“What’s going on,” Raleigh says, “is we’re _in a fucking Jaeger._ ”

“Language, Mr. Beckett,” comes Marshall Pentecost’s voice over the comm, “but point taken. Prepare for drill sequence.”

“Aye, Marshall.”

Yancy drops his hands away from the comm and grins giddily at his brother, excitement running rampant through the drift.

**_Oh my god this is so fucking cool._ **

_Transformers ain’t got nothin’ on this._

**_Ya think we can convince Ma to get the action figure of our Jaeger?_ **

_You kidding? She’ll have bought the whole damn store._

“Showtime. Beckett boys,” comes Tendo’s voice, “run drill sequence #5.”

“Let’s give ‘em a show, shall we kid?”

“Waiting on you, old man.”

Raleigh’s spared the punch to the shoulder that kind of remark would normally earn him in favor of _actually getting to do stuff in a Jaeger._ The brothers model the four basic fighting stances, hands switching between the positions smoothly, pausing for a few seconds at each.

“Lookin’ good,” Tendo says, “switch to drill sequence #9.”

_That’s the drop sequence one, right?_

**_Raleigh I swear to god if you mess this up for us—_ **

_Calm down, old man, I’m pulling your leg._

The rest of the test runs as smooth as it possibly could, Tendo calling out the sequences and Raleigh not bothering to hide the manic glee on his face as he and Yancy perform them flawlessly. They can hear the smile in the Marshall’s voice when he calls an end to the test sequence.

_Can’t we just flub the last one so we have to do it again?_

**_You’re an awful influence, kid._ **

_You say that like I didn’t get most of it from you._

**_I take no responsibility for the stupid shit you think of._ **

_You wish you had my creativity._

**_I wish I had your lack of shame._ **

Unfortunately, the time it took to have that conversation lines up neatly with the deactivation of the Jaeger. His brother’s enthusiasm fades in Raleigh’s head, leaving only his excitement bouncing around like a pinball. Once their helmets are off and they’ve disengaged from the harness, only when Raleigh’s legs hit the floor does the immensity of what just happened hit him properly.

They just fucking _did that._

Raleigh giggles.

Yancy snorts.

They look at each other and they’re gone.

Their whooping echoes around the cabin, intermixed with breathless gasps and the smack of their gloves against the dive suits. The techs come to get them and they’re bounding down the corridor, barely keeping behind them as they go back to the suit room. The techs tell them repeatedly to _stay still,_ only to shake their heads in exasperation when they’re still practically vibrating.

Tendo walks in, takes one look at them, and tells them they’ll debrief later.

“Get your asses outta the important parts, you hear me?” Tendo raises an eyebrow at the pair. “You two ain’t gonna be breaking anything on my watch.”

“Yes, sir,” Yancy says, smirking when Tendo rolls his eyes.

“Just go.”

Don’t need to tell them twice.

Raleigh yanks his brother out of the room, still high on the thrill of the successful run. Yancy knocks his hand off his shoulder and it quickly dissolves into who can smack their brother the fastest. Raleigh takes one look behind him and sees Yancy gearing up for another and bolts, vaulting over supports and yelling half-hearted apologies at the officers who flatten themselves against the wall to get out of their way.

“Get back here, kid!”

“You gotta catch me first, old man!”

“You’re gonna be sorry you said that!”

Raleigh grins, pushing his legs to run faster. The adrenaline is just his now, but he can feel his brother still behind him, pinging like he’s got some sort of radar. Instinctively he ducks around a corner, smirking at Yancy’s muffled curse behind him. He knows he can’t outrun his brother, dude’s got a few inches on him that makes his legs longer, but he can out-maneuver him.

At least he can when he’s not losing most of his breath to laughter.

He tries to swing around another corner but a hand grabs his elbow and he yelps. Yancy swings himself _over the fucking railing how—_ and wraps his legs through Raleigh’s and the two of them go down like a ton of bricks. Before Raleigh’s registered he’s no longer vertical, Yancy’s got his arms and legs pinned and he’s grinning down at his prize.

“Gotcha.”

“Yeah, yeah, lemme go,” Raleigh whines, wriggling.

“C’mon, where’s all that smack talk? Ain’t you gonna break my hold?”

Raleigh tries. He does, honestly. But Yancy’s bigger. Not by much, thank you, but he’s got just enough mass and knows how to use it to make sure his little brother ain’t going anywhere. And the giddiness hasn’t worn off so Raleigh can’t stop the breathless giggles still piling out of his throat.

And Yancy, the shit, isn’t doing anything. He’s just sitting there, smirking down at his brother, easily thwarting any and all attempts to get free. Raleigh can feel his brother’s smugness rolling off him in waves.

“Aww,” Yancy teases when Raleigh finally slumps in defeat, “lil bro all tired out?”

Raleigh tries to glare up at his brother but _he still can’t stop laughing_ so it ends up being a pout. “Shaddup.”

“Make me.”

And Raleigh’s about to open his mouth to make some snappy remark he’s sure Yancy’ll make him regret when he feels a sudden weight press down on his chest. His first thought is maybe Yancy’s shifted his weight but that’s not it. The laughter bubbling out of his mouth feels different now, it’s less actual laughs and just…vague noises.

“Hey, hey,” Yancy calls from somewhere above him, “hey, kid, ’s okay.”

Yeah, he knows, what the fuck is Yancy talking about? But his brother isn’t smug anymore, he can feel the concern seeping in the back of his head. Yancy releases his hold a little, just enough to raise a hand to Raleigh’s cheek. He still has no idea what’s going on until Yancy’s hand comes away wet.

Shit.

Raleigh’s own hand comes up to swipe angrily at his face, looking at the tears on his hand in disbelief. He stares at Yancy, trying to figure out what the hell’s going on. He sees his own confusion and a bit of concern mirrored on Yancy’s face.

“I’m fine,” Raleigh says, pushing his brother off of him and trying to get up, “I’m fine.”

His legs won’t work. Fuck. He keeps trying to stand but now that he knows he’s crying none of his limbs want to cooperate. Trying desperately to get up he throws himself toward the wall to gain some leverage but Yancy grabs him again.

“Hey, nuh-uh.”

Yancy wraps him in another hold but this one’s not as hard. His back’s still on the floor and he _should_ feel something about being in such a vulnerable position, _crying_ on the damn floor but Yancy’s weight is a comfort this time. It feels right.

Still, it’s not enough to overcome the burn of his face. Here he is, having just completed a successful test run in a Jaeger for the first time, and not half an hour later he’s sobbing on the fucking floor like a child who’s just gotten their blanket taken away.

“Sorry, Yance.”

“None of that, kid,” Yancy says, wiping his face, “it’s not bad to cry. In fact, I think it makes a person stronger.”

Raleigh scoffs.

“Hey, I’m serious,” Yancy chides, gently chucking him under the chin, “humans’re supposed to cry from any emotion. Gets too much, here come the waterworks. And uh, in case you haven’t noticed, kid, we just did a hell of an emotional workout.”

Yancy’s right, Raleigh knows that. And yeah, he’s gotta admit the adrenaline wearing off is probably what that weird weight was. Another drop of water hits his face and he blinks.

“See,” Yancy says softly when he looks up to see his brother’s eyes red, “’s happening to me too.”

Raleigh surges up, taking his brother by surprise and tackling him onto his back, hugging him fiercely.

“…ease up, kiddo,” Yancy mutters, “you’re gonna break something.”

“Shaddup, old man.”

“You shaddup, kiddo.”

Yancy’s arms come up to wrap around him and Raleigh melts into his brother. He feels Yancy’s own heartbeat slow, pressed against his chest as if trying to reach his own.

“You remember what they said about the Ghost Drift, right?”

“…yeah.”

“You go ahead, kiddo. I ain’t going anywhere.”

“You better not.”

“Hey, I gotta cry it out too, kay? You curl up and I’ll do the same.”

Tendo comms them later, trying to find out where they are. He sends a few officers to look for them. They find the Beckett brothers curled up in the abandoned dock tunnels, wrapped around each other so tight they can’t tell who’s who.

“Ah, let ‘em sleep,” Tendo says when he hears the report, “they ain’t gonna be getting much of that once we get going.”

It’s one of the last nights Raleigh sleeps with his brother in his arms.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Come yell at me on tumblr while we're all in quarantine. 
> 
> https://a-small-batch-of-dragons.tumblr.com/


End file.
